


Moving Forward at Mach Three

by antigrav_vector



Series: Supersonic [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Aunt Peggy Carter, BAMF Peggy Carter, Bucky Barnes & Peggy Carter Friendship, F/M, Fix-It, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Lots of Tony Feels, M/M, Ouch, Peggy Carter Lives, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, The Author Regrets Nothing, Time Travel Fix-It, Tony POV, except typing this up in like 6 hours, post-AoU, pre-CA:CW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 01:44:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15353478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: Tony was messing around with his new holographic memory projection system, BARF, remembering Peggy. But after a memory cut a little too close to the bone, he set the tech aside and started tinkering with a device he'd confiscated from a black market arms dealer instead. The guy had claimed it was some kind of time travel device, and that had gotten Tony's attention. Even weirder, FRIDAY couldn't seem to get a read on the thing.For a few minutes, it was just him and FRIDAY, and then there was a pair of bright flashes, and two unconscious people on his floor. Two very familiar people...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm posting this unbeta'ed, so please excuse any remaining errors. I'll probably go through it sometime soon and make whatever minor edits it still needs, though.

"Tony," Rhodey sounded like he was biting back a sigh, "I know you prefer your lab to anyplace else on this planet, but you need to get outdoors long enough to see the sun now and then."

Looking around the room, Tony shrugged. "No can do. I'm waiting for a phonecall."

He wasn't really, but he had no real desire to leave his sanctuary. Very few people bothered him here, and that was what made his lab the superior place to be. He might play the social butterfly, but that mask was exhausting to wear, and he preferred not to, when he could avoid it.

"Tony, come on. Seriously, man." Rhodey did sigh that time. "If anybody ever called you I might believe that excuse."

Tony caught his friend's eyes and raised an eyebrow at him, trying to buy himself time to figure out how to respond. Before he could, though, the phone tucked away in a corner of the lab rang shrilly, making them both jump.

"Told you," Tony said with a smirk and walked over to pick it up, relieved that the universe had come through for him. Now Rhodey might think twice about questioning his excuses. Nothing like a bit of concrete evidence, even if it was entirely unplanned. "Hello?"

"Tony!" Aunt Peggy's tone of voice all but nailed his feet to the floor. She sounded _awful_ , like she was holding back tears.

Suddenly terrified something had happened to her, he felt his grip on the phone go white-knuckled. "Aunt Peggy? Oh my god, are you alright?"

Rhodey was suddenly at his back, a warm hand on his shoulder, and Tony was grateful for it.

"Thank goodness you're okay," she answered. "I'd have ... I don't know what I'd have done if you weren't."

Holy shit. Something major had just happened. "What's going on?" Tony tried again.

"There's been an accident, and I can't prove it but I suspect foul play," she replied, and Tony's knees threatened to give out. Everything was weirdly distant. Like it was happening to someone else. "Your parents..." Aunt Peggy swallowed audibly, clearing her throat, "and Mr. Jarvis, were pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of the accident hasn't been determined, but the police suspect that the brake lines broke. Something about a material defect."

That was impossible.

This wasn't happening.

"Tony?" Aunt Peggy's voice was a lot smaller than before, and he realised he'd let his hand drop.

He stared dumbly at the receiver for a moment before Rhodey pulled it out of his hand. "Hello? Rhodes. James. Ms. Carter. Oh. Yeah, I'll keep an eye on him. Of course. Yeah, I'll let him know."

The lab was silent for a few long seconds after Rhodey hung up. "That wasn't the call you were waiting for, was it."

Tony had to clear his throat three times before he could reply. "No."

He pulled off the BARF interface with a shudder, knowing his breathing was too fast and his face was wet. He could feel the wet tracks on his skin, catching on his facial hair. It was almost more difficult to deal with that scene now than it had been at the time. 

"Boss, your vitals are--"

He cut FRIDAY off with a slash of his hand through the air, letting the vivid images fade back out of his short term memory and tempted to call Rhodey. Very. Tempted. But Rhodey was off doing something Top Secret again -- as usual -- and not reachable unless Tony decided it was worth the risk of hacking his contact number again -- as usual.

And goddamn, he missed JARVIS, too. Nothing felt... right. FRIDAY was good, and he would never tell her otherwise, but JARVIS had become as much a part of him as his suit, if not more. Creating Vision, no matter how worthy that act might have been, had been like tearing out his heart and laying it bare. It had hurt more than Obie's attempt at the same.

"I know," he said flatly and forced himself to set the BARF glasses down carefully rather than flinging them across the room. Sometimes he had to admit, at least in the privacy of his own thoughts, that JARVIS had had a point about the dangers of testing his inventions on himself. After Ultron and the clusterfuck that had turned out to be, he was definitely inclined to be more careful.

After that, he needed to work on something else to clear his mind. There was no way he wanted to leave his sanctuary and risk having to deal with Rogers or anyone else currently in the building. The rest of the Avengers -- Tony was retired, thanks -- were hanging out upstairs in his Tower. Allegedly to visit him, but they'd made a point of more or less ignoring him for the first few hours, and Tony knew how to take a hint. All of them were still pissed at him over Ultron, and they made no secret of it, but Wanda was the worst.

Surprisingly enough, Rogers was being more or less civil, but that wasn't enough to counteract the animosity from the rest of his team.

"Got any further leads on Cap's bestie," he changed the topic.

"I'm afraid not, Boss. Sergeant Barnes is quite good at keeping a low profile." FRIDAY answered him gamely enough.

Tony scrubbed at his face and made a note to shave before he ventured anywhere that might feature a camera. "Figures. Keep looking. Lower the significance threshold on the results, if you have to."

In the meantime... Tony's eyes fell on the strange tangle of wires and dials that he'd confiscated from a black market dealer in Kazahkstan before buying out his stock, destroying it all, and telling him to get the fuck out of that business. In the meantime, maybe he ought to figure out what the hell the thing did. The man he'd taken it from had claimed it was a time travel device, and that it worked. Tony highly doubted it.

He considered the thing for a minute, letting his eyes trace out the complicated and very messy wiring one more time, then picked it up, hefting it in his hand. It wasn't even that heavy. The whole thing was an impossibility, a Gordion knot of electronics with no space left in it for a power source. "Got any better readings on this thing yet, FRIDAY?"

"My sensors indicate the presence of a power source, though I cannot identify it," she replied, "and analysis indicates that the covered toggle switch on the front is intended to activate it. I have also not successfully identified a means of setting values or a target."

That didn't sound very useful at all.

He tossed the device a few inches into the air and let it smack back into his palm. It really was disturbingly light. As though something inside it was as willing to fling itself into the air as he was, and damn the laws of gravity.

"Boss, Captain Rogers would like a word," FRIDAY informed him.

"Fine, whatever, put him on speaker phone," Tony replied, most of his attention still on the device in his hand.

"Stark?" Rogers' voice rang out over the speakers, as he'd requested.

"Yeah? What can I do for you?" Tony responded, idly flipping up the cover of the toggle switch and considering just turning the thing on.

"Well, I was hoping--"

Tony was reminded of the way Aunt Peggy had always talked about Rogers and hope. The man never gave up. That was especially true of people he considered friends. Like Barnes. And nevermind the hurdles that he'd have to jump to get to his friends. Tony knew about DC in all its horrifying detail. "Mhmm," he hummed, in a sort of go-on-I'm-listening, not really listening to what Steve was saying, even as he gave in to his curiousity, and flipped the switch. Nothing happened. Disappointed, Tony flipped it back off, and tried again. Still nothing.

"-- you might join us for dinner tonight."

"Sorry, but I--"

Two bright flashes flared in quick succession from the device in his hands, and Tony yelped. He dropped the thing, and jumped back screwing his eyes shut and hoping the after images disappeared sometime this year. "FRIDAY!"

"Scanning, Boss. Two unindentified persons appear to have teleported into the lab. Current threat assessment low. They are unconscious."

"Tony!" Steve tried to get his attention. "Stark, what just happened down there? Answer me!"

"I--" Tony still couldn't really see well, but what he could make out... he swallowed. "I'm not sure, but you're gonna want to see this."

"I'll bring--"

Tony could _not_ deal with the idea that the rest of Rogers' "team" would come barging into his lab on their Captain's say-so. "No! Just you."

Steve huffed at him, not particularly happy abut being interrupted, but he was already moving. Tony could hear the stairwell door hit concrete as Steve shoved it open without much of a care for its mechanism. "I don't think that's--"

"I don't give a fuck, Rogers. I don't want them in my lab," Tony cut him off again. "And don't break my Tower." A quiet groan from the woman got Tony's attention. "Just get down here," he said and hung up.

He had no idea how it was possible that he suddenly either had a pair of _excellent_ imitations or both Aunt Peggy and Bucky Barnes on his lab floor. And Peggy seemed to be coming to, which implied Barnes would soon, himself.

Tony fought for his composure. "What the hell is my life," he asked no one.

"I daresay the answer is, 'bizarre', if it's anything like mine," Peggy replied, picking herself up, one hand going to the pistol holster she'd always kept hidden at her hip. "Who are you, and how did you get me here?"

Tony carefully made sure his hands were visible. "I'm not sure you'd believe the answer," he said with a sigh. "You won't need the gun, I promise."

Peggy eyed him suspiciously. "Gun?"

"Yeah, gun." Tony gave her a rueful half-smirk. "The one in that holster you never go without."

"Which you know about... how?" Peggy's expression hardened. "You might resemble Howard, but you're not him. Spit it out."

Bucky picked that moment to come to with a groan of his own. "Goddamn," he mumbled, "I am never drinking Howie's moonshine again."

Tony couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing. "Dad never told me that one."

Peggy's eyes widened. "Dad? Howard's... oh Lord help me."

Steve, naturally picked that moment to show up at the lab door, skidding to a stop, and stare, stunned. Bucky picked himself up. "You've got some explaining to do, pal," he said, voice holding more than a little bit of a dry rasp. "Howard ain't got a son."

The lab door slid open, and Steve stumbled over his own feet to get in. "Buck? Peggy?"

"Steve?"

Tony laughed again; that had been in perfect unison.

Bucky pinched at his ear. "This is a dream. Gotta be."

Steve stopped in front of his bestie. "You might wish it was," he said, and pulled Barnes into a bear hug. "Missed you," he mumbled. "Jerk."

Barnes hugged back, but told him. "It's been barely six hours since I saw you, Punk."

"Touching as this is," Peggy broke in, "I would like to know what in blue blazes is going on."

All three of them turned to Tony. He shrugged. "I think I might have accidentally dragged you forward into my timeline."

"Uh huh," Barnes eyed him, "try the other leg."

"Does this have anything to do with that thing you said you wanted to analyse?" Steve asked him, clearly putting the pieces together.

Tony shrugged. "Hard to say for sure, but evidence points to yes."

"There is a direct correlation between the timing of the tests the Boss did and the appearance of our two guests," FRIDAY put in. "It is a small sample size, but I would not recommend further testing at this time."

Both Barnes and Peggy jumped.

"Who the fuck is that?" Barnes rasped.

"One of Tony's AIs," Steve told him. "There are a few more."

"Tony's what?" Peggy asked, stalking over, her heels clicking almost threateningly on the concrete.

Well, maybe that was just Tony's imagination. But he knew Aunt Peggy's moods well. "Artificial intelligence," he replied airily, faking calm as hard as he could. "Bit like turning a computer into a person. They can think and make decisions, just like you or me. FRIDAY runs the building."

"Friday?" Barnes gave him an unreadable look. "You think you're some kinda gun slinger, that you gotta have a Gal Friday?"

Tony grinned at him, pleased. Barnes was the first who'd picked up on that reference. "Nah," he replied. "I just liked the sound of it. Who wouldn't want to have a Gal Friday?" He paused just long enough to signal that he was changing the topic, then went on. "Anyway. Since I'm not sure myself how you two got here, exactly, and I have no idea where in the timeline you got pulled from, I guess I'm putting you two up for a while."

"Gonna try to send us back?" Barnes asked him. "Won't that cause some weird time paradox or something?"

A science fiction fan? Oh, Tony was liking Barnes better and better. "It could. I'd have to figure out down to the millisecond when you came from, and that's almost impossible. I might be able to do it anyway, if I can figure out how the thing works that pulled you here, but it'll probably be a while."

Peggy rolled her eyes at him. "And just what are we supposed to do in the meantime? Sit on our thumbs?"

Tony shrugged. He hadn't thought that far, but... "If you want, Rogers there can introduce you to his team, since they're here for the day, and after, I'm sure I can figure something out. I might never have met Barnes in person, but you were great at sniffing out potential issues the Company might have while Dad was still around."

"I suppose that's the best we'll get out of you," she grumbled.

That stung a bit. "Well, excuse me if I don't just drop everything to make sure that my unexpected guests -- who both know Rogers a lot better than me -- are entertained 24/7," he sniped back, suddenly tired. "I'm retired from the Avengers, now, thanks, and I have a day job." 

Barnes apparently decided that was the moment to step in. "Come on, Agent Carter, let's go catch up on what we've missed. I might not know this Stark at all, but Steve seems to trust him."

Peggy's lips thinned, but she nodded. "Very well."

Steve sighed. "I'll tell you," he agreed, "but it's a bit of a doozy."


	2. Chapter 2

Tony only left the lab once FRIDAY confirmed that the rest of Steve's team had left the building. And when he did, the first thing he did was shower, shave, and fall face first onto his bed.

When he woke, some six hours later, he shuffled into the kitchen and didn't bother looking around. Simply made a beeline for his coffee maker.

"Stark."

Which was why the voice addressing him made him jump out of his skin. "Holy shit! Could you not?" he managed to grit out, as he did his best to slow his breathing.

Peggy took a sip of her tea -- where she'd found tea, he had no idea, he was sure the tea he'd kept around the building for her once upon a time was long expired and thrown out -- and just watched him for a long moment. "Steve filled me in on a lot of things," she said after about half a minute. "But I know how biased he can get sometimes. I need to hear your side of the story."

Great. Tony groaned. Just what he wanted to do today. Rehash old history. "I'd really rather pass."

"I think you might have misheard me," she replied calmly, making Tony flash back to all the thousands of times she'd used that unyielding iron tone on him in his late teens and early twenties.

He let the silence draw out a little as his coffee finished brewing. There was no way in hell he was doing this without some caffeine in him. It might also call for a stiff drink, and nevermind that he'd mostly given that habit up.

Peggy let him sip at his coffee in peace at least. He knew better than to try to leave the room, so he didn't. This was going to be difficult enough without having to deal with Peggy's less gentle interrogation techniques. She'd never get violent. She wasn't like that. Not with him. Never had been. But she knew how to pin him down even better than Natasha did.

He hid a wince behind his mug at the thought.

Eventually, once he'd finished his drink, Peggy stood. She put her own mug beside the sink, took his out of his hands, and pointedly waited for him to start walking.

At least, Tony reflected, she was letting him choose the setting.

He led her into his livingroom, wide and open and airy, and let himself sprawl carelessly on his sofa on his back, an arm over his face. Hiding as best he could.

There was a short silence, then Peggy settled herself on the loveseat on the other side of his glass coffee table. "Well?" she prompted him.

"It's not an easy story to tell," he said eventually. "I'm not sure where to start."

"Stark," she said, voice more sympathetic than he'd expected, "I'm not unfamiliar with tragedy. And we've already established that Barnes and I got pulled forward from different timepoints."

Tony pinched at the bridge of his nose, then let his arm fall again. "I guess it starts that night you called me to tell me Howard bought it."

Peggy made a sound at the back of her throat that Tony couldn't quite categorise. "That was after you grabbed me. What happened?"

"No one ever figured that out. You told me you thought it might have been foul play, but the police ruled it a simple accident and never let anyone investigate any closer. But Mom and Dad and Jarvis were dead, and Obie ended up running the company until I was 21. Because I was a few months shy of 18 at the time, I ended up staying with you until then, since you were legally appointed my guardian-in-case-of-disaster in Dad's paperwork. One of the few things he ever did for or to me that I didn't hate."

Peggy sighed. "He really was infuriating so much of the time, even when I knew him, long before you were born."

"Those were the best three years of my childhood," he told her, feeling like the memories might rise up and choke him, and knowing she'd hear that he meant every word. "But the part you want to hear starts about twenty years later." Tony took a breath and held it for a moment, forcing his hand not to come up and his fingers not to tap at the artificial 3D printed sternum he was still getting used to, and the scarring he hated seeing in the mirror. "Obie sent me off to Afghanistan with a smile and arranged a hit on me."

Peggy growled something under her breath. "I always knew he was trouble. But you're alive."

"Yeah. I'm not going into the details. But my solution to that problem put me on everyone's radar, and a few years later I was offered an invitation I couldn't refuse: become a consultant for SHIELD. And that meant a lot more than just joining the Avengers. And, sure, it wasn't all bad. It meant a bunch of government contracts for Stark Industries, as well as fighting aliens."

"Okay, that is the part of the story I need to hear more of," Peggy put in.

"That is one of the parts of the story I like least," Tony retorted, then gave in with a groan. Peggy wouldn't let this go and he knew it. "Dad funded yearly searches for Rogers. SHIELD wormed its way into them sometime before Afghanistan, and I didn't care because I didn't think they would ever pay off. But the expeditions were in Dad's will, and since I had the cash to fund them I was forced to send them out there. One day," Tony felt the sneer tug at his lips, "they found him, frozen solid inside that behemoth of a plane he crashed, and shipped him off to SHIELD to get thawed out. I never heard a word about it until something like a month later, when Loki decided to start fucking shit up."

"That explains a lot," Peggy commented, tone dry, "but not everything. Go on."

Tony rolled his eyes at the inside of his sleeve. "There's not a lot else to say. Someone gave him a pile of press about me to read, he decided I was a dick before he'd even met me, we fought a lot."

"He told me you flew a missile through a portal."

"Yeah. One-way trip. Or so we all thought. I still have nightmares about it." He was probably going to dream about it tonight, in fact, now that he'd had to talk about it and remember it. "After that, Rogers relaxed a bit."

Peggy sniffed. "The way he tells it, he relaxed a lot earlier, but you didn't want to acknowledge it. But then, Steve never was that good at dealing with strangers. He had a habit of trusting those around him a little too much, and those he didn't know far too little."

"Well, he didn't figure his shit out until it blew up in his face," Tony muttered.

Peggy stood, took the three steps over to the sofa, and perched on the edge of it, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. It was a move far more intimate and far more familiar than he was prepared for, and actually jerked a tear loose. "Stark," she said quietly, "Tony, he was mourning his entire life, and had no idea whom to turn to. He trusted this Agent Coulson -- yes, he told about that -- and he feels that mistake keenly, even now."

"Bullshit."

"You're just as stubborn as he is, you know," Peggy told him. "Clearly just as brilliant as your father, too. But the stubbornness was what won Steve over. He told me about what you did on that ridiculous flying aircraft carrier. How you didn't let up until you knew exactly what was going on. How you figured out Loki's plan so fast he could barely follow the logic."

Tony snorted. "He barely tolerates me, and his team actively dislikes me."

"I can't speak for his team, but don't you worry. We'll get them straightened out." Peggy told him, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze and standing. "Steve told me about this Ultron mess, as well."

"Great, so you got to hear all about how I fucked up," Tony said and wiped surreptitiously at his face.

"I also heard about how you went to great lengths to fix it, and how it wasn't your fault," Peggy reprimanded him sharply. "It might have been your hands that built Ultron, but the impulse? The fear that created him? That was not you. You were influenced by that teammate of his. Wanda."

"That doesn't make the deaths Ultron caused any less my fault," Tony disagreed.

"Yours was not the hand that pulled the trigger, Tony," Peggy stated firmly. "You merely built the gun. Also a mistake, I'll grant you, but not the mortal sin you make it out to be. You've spent time around military. Surely you're familiar with the concept of a criminal order. The responsibility for such rests with the man who makes the decision, and those who carry it out with intent to cause injury. You did neither."

Hearing it put that way, Tony was at a loss. He didn't believe it, didn't know that he could accept it, but he couldn't argue the logic either. Stalemate.

Peggy let the silence stretch out for a while before she stood. "You think on that," she told him voice firm and even. "We can pick that up again at a later date. For now, I want to know what you plan on doing to send us home."

The change of topic caught him off balance, and Tony floundered for a few seconds before he caught up. Once he did, he groaned and tried to wipe his face off on his sleeve again for all that his eyes were dry, then took a deep breath. "I have no idea," he admitted. "I don't know anything about how that thing works; I can't take it apart without risking destroying it; FRIDAY can't seem to scan it; and if I try to use it again who the hell knows what will happen," he listed off.

"I suppose that's a fair assessment," Peggy conceded, sitting back on the loveseat and looking a bit put out. "Does that mean we're stuck here?"

"Not a clue. For all I know this is only temporary and you'll get rubber-banded back to where you started in a few days once the device's effect wears off. I've got nothing to go on."

Peggy nodded. "Very well, then. For now we'll assume we're stuck. What's the next step?"

"FRIDAY?" Tony directed his response at his AI, "Do me a favor and get the ball rolling on some IDs and bank accounts for Barnes and Agent Carter."

"Yes, sir, Boss. Anything else I can get ya?"

"Run the analysis on the logged data from their arrival one more time," Tony suggested. He turned back to Peggy and added, "Not much else I can do right now."

Not now that he and Pepper had split so that he could focus on his avenging. And it didn't help matters that she was too involved in being CEO for him to call on her for help.

Tony missed her efficiency and directness a lot.

Especially now that he was facing down a startlingly young version of his Aunt Peggy, which... Tony wanted to go back down to his lab and blow a few things to atoms; If his Aunt Peggy was here and young, pulled forward from a point in her timeline that was somewhere before he'd been born, what had happened to the Aunt Peggy he'd known and adored? Was she still in her nursing home? Or had she disappeared entirely? For that matter, how was it possible that he still remembered her?

Before he could think himself into a corner, Peggy spoke again, interrupting his increasingly tangled thoughts. "You can call me Peggy, you know," she said, quietly.

That offer, rather to his embarrassment, brought all the emotion he'd been carefully keeping a lid on boiling up to the surface. Taking a shuddering breath, he nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

"See that you do. Now, go wash your face," she demanded, for all the world like he was the teen she'd taken under her wing so many years ago. "We're going down to the common area." 

"But--"

"No arguments," she told him firmly. "I'll not stand by and let you hide up here."

Sometimes Tony had to wonder just how masochistic he was. Having Peggy say that so openly... actually was kind of a relief. "There better be coffee," he told her, even as he hauled himself to his feet, feeling like his entire body weighed about three times what it normally did.

"What you need isn't coffee," Peggy retorted. "Miss Friday?"

"Yes, Miss Carter?" FRIDAY replied carefully.

"See to it that there is some breakfast waiting for us, please?" Peggy requested politely.

"Sure thing," FRIDAY answered, sounding very happy to do it. "Boss doesn't take very good care of himself."

For fuck's sake.

Peggy laughed. "I'm beginning to suspect you might be right about that, Miss Friday."

Tony rolled his eyes. "I sleep for a few hours and what happens is a damned mutiny."

"What can I say, Boss," his AI told him, very smugly, "I appreciate having people around who'll help me keep your bad habits under control."

Tony knew a losing battle when he saw one. He shook his head in mock-despair and stalked off into his bedroom. He wanted more than just to wash the tear tracks off his face. There was no way he was going to leave his floor looking less than pristine, given what he'd just had to work through. He needed the armour his collection of Armani could provide.

Thankfully, it didn't take him long to make the switch from the t-shirt and old jeans he'd grabbed when he'd stumbled out of bed and into his more formal clothes. He knew from experience that Peggy would simply walk into the room and physically haul him out if she deemed it necessary.

When he stepped back out of the room, fiddling with one of his cufflinks to get it to settle just right, Peggy raised an eyebrow at him. "Just as vain as your father," she said. 

It bounced right back off his armour. Tony smirked at her. "What can I say. I learned a lot from him."

"I could tell." Peggy gave him a once over, and nodded, leading him over to the elevator and then into it. "You'll do. Come on."

Keeping his tone even, Tony told her, "This feels a lot like a kidnapping, you know."

"You know I'd never let that happen, Boss," FRIDAY reminded him as the car started moving, "you've said often enough I'm the only gal for you."

Peggy gave him a surprised look.

Tony shrugged. "And it was true every time I said it."

"Something tells me that life in this Tower of yours is anything but boring," Peggy said as the elevator doors opened on the common area, with an exasperated undertone to her voice.

"You have no idea," Steve answered with a wry smile, from his position at the breakfast bar.


	3. Chapter 3

"You get Barnes straightened out?" Peggy asked Steve, stepping over to him and accepting the peck on the cheek he gave her with a smile.

"More or less," Steve told her, "he's still more than a little hung up on all the tech. Always was a fan of those dimestore novels about robots and space. Even more than I was. And now he's living it."

Tony sniffed. "Please. My tech is better than anything in a novel could ever be."

Steve gave him a wry look. "Exactly."

"Steve!" Barnes all but skidded into the room, in nothing but a t-shirt and boxers, "Steve, you heard about-- oh. Agent Carter. Mr. Stark."

Tony wasn't sure why Barnes seemed to be staring at him with the sort of laser focus Steve had shown a few times, right before he'd obliterated an enemy. It was a bit intimidating, despite the man's lack of clothes.

Peggy sniggered at Barnes. "Go put some pants on, Barnes, for God's sake."

Tony could only stare right back. It hadn't really registered on him when Barnes had been all but dropped in his lap, overshadowed by the shock, but the man was stunningly good looking. He really wouldn't mind at all if Barnes was willing to take a tumble between the sheets. The man was built. And it seemed to extend to more than just his figure.

Steve looked like he wanted to laugh, but was carefully holding himself back. "We can talk about it later, Buck."

Barnes nodded, still not looking away from Tony. "Sure. Right. I'll just..."

Then, faster than any of them could react, Barnes turned and vanished into what Tony was fairly sure was the guestroom Steve usually claimed while he was visiting.

Tony had no idea what to think of that encounter. Steve and Peggy exchanged a look. Steve nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're right," he said, apropos of nothing.

"I generally am," Peggy agreed regally, and leaned against his side.

Tony took them in. Their bearing, the familiarity, the emotion they projected... They were a matched pair, and clearly all the rumours that they'd been involved during the War had more than a grain of truth to them.

Steve made a content sound. "Tony," he said after a beat, "whatever else might happen? I don't give a damn how or why you did it, whether it was by accident, or by design, whether it lasts forever, or ends tomorrow. But thank you for bringing them back to me."

Speechless again, Tony nodded.

Barnes picked that moment to reappear, having pulled the fatigues back on that he'd appeared in. Tony couldn't help letting his eyes linger. He'd always had a bit of a thing for men in uniform, cliche as that might be. The olive drab pants were a bit too loose to show off his figure like the boxers had, but far better suited to polite company, and the off-white t-shirt that went with them was just slightly too small. As though it had fit when he'd gotten it, but then Barnes had bulked up. It seemed to cling lovingly to his chest, revealing even as it concealed, and hot damn, but it looked good. The outline of the dogtags he'd tucked under the shirt did a great job of drawing the eye like a magnet.

Barnes cleared his throat, preparing to speak, and Tony hastily tried to pull his mind back out of the gutter.

Operative word: tried.

"So what'd you find out, Agent Carter?" Barnes asked her.

"Nothing new, sadly," Peggy told him. "Tony knows about as much as we do about the whole mess. We might be stuck here, or we might not." She shrugged. "Might as well make the most of it."

Barnes nodded thoughtfully, clearly trying to work out what affect that might have on their future. "And if we acclimate just in time to get back?"

"I suppose we'll just have to readjust. But in the meantime, I suggest you dish up some breakfast for yourself and Tony."

"You and Mr. Stark on a first name basis, now?" Barnes asked her, a skeptical look on his face. "When I'm not?"

Steve laughed. "You jealous, Buck?"

"Surprised," Barnes corrected him.

That finally got Tony's tongue unstuck. "Think what you want," he put in, "but none of this Mr. Stark crap. Call me Tony."

Barnes made a knowing sound. "Okay, I get it now. That's how you did it. Well, call me Bucky, then."

Not sure what to think about that, Tony nodded. "Yeah, sure. Fine. I need some more coffee now. It's too early for this."

All three of them laughed at him, but Tony was done caring. He took the few steps into the kitchen tucked behind the breakfast bar and turned the coffee machine on.

Barnes -- no, Bucky -- appeared next to him silently, and plated up some of the food that had stayed on the stovetop to keep warm.

"So if you're staying," Steve asked, "what will you do? And where will you stay?"

"We hadn't worked that part out yet," Peggy replied. "I expect we'll stay in Tony's building for now, and work out the rest from there. It seems more than a little bit risky to just take off into the outside world with nothing more than the contents of our pockets, for one thing. And for another, if Tony does manage to work out how to get us home, it would be wiser if we were to stick around."

"Sounds reasonable to me," Bucky agreed. "And there's plenty to do, here."

Steve snorted. "More than. It was overwhelming when I woke up here."

"Oh, by the bye," Peggy said, her tone sweet enough to put Tony on his guard instantly, "Steven?"

Bucky froze, too, halfway through offering the plate to him. Tony's eyes met his again, and Bucky looked about as apprehensive as he felt.

"What is it, Peg?" Steve responded, unworried.

Tony winced. Bucky put the plate down carefully.

"I must say, I'm less than impressed with your current team."

Steve was silent for a moment. "How so? They're--"

"They're letting their emotions cloud their judgment." Peggy told him flatly. "I thought that might be the case, when you showed us off to them, but what I've heard this morning confirms it."

"What you've heard?" Steve scowled. "Tony, what have you--"

"Steve, shut up for a damned minute. You're just as bad as they are, turning a blind eye to it," Peggy snapped. "I always thought you would stand up for anyone getting bullied, no matter who or how. And yet, you let your team cut Tony out of everything. The lot of you were ostensibly here to visit him. You said as much yourself. Yet you spent no time with him that I saw outside those few minutes when Barnes and I got dumped here. And Tony's confirmed that. So has Miss Friday. Get your head out of your arse and do something about it."

Tony dared glance over at Steve, and saw him standing there, gaping at Peggy. He decided to intercede. "Peggy, it's not like he can just give them an order and have them change their minds about me. Easier for me to just make myself scarce. If nothing else, that way at least I can be sure of not having to remodel my penthouse again. They hate me and it's obvious. Anyway, I'm happier not being actively involved with a team that contains multiple members that have manipulated me into doing some really fucked up things."

Now Steve was gaping at _him_ and so was Bucky. That wasn't what he'd meant to happen.

"Jesus," Bucky muttered looking like he was torn between slapping some sense into Steve and storming off to do it to the team. "That situation's even more FUBAR than I thought. Steve, what the _fuck_ have you been doing, exactly, that you missed that?"

"I-- I--" Steve floundered.

"Let it go, Peggy," Tony added. "It more or less works, as it is."

Steve shook his head. "Why didn't you say something to me, Tony?"

"What would that have accomplished?" Tony sneered, pushed into answering more or less honestly. "Maximoff will never give up her grudge, nor do I want a damned thing to do with her. Keep her, and her mindfucks, far the fuck away from me. The others, I really could care less what they think of me. But there'll be less friction if I keep away from them until you need Iron Man's firepower. Hell, the two of _us_ barely have a civil working relationship, even now. Why the hell would I confide anything like that? Hm? You expect me to come to you and tell you 'hey, cap, your team's been harassing and ignoring me' and think I'll be believed when it's my word against all of theirs? You said 'together' when we took out Ultron, and I stepped up. But what has the team ever done to help me? I get to deal with the media fall out. I get to pay for the damage that the team causes. I get to build you gear. I get to help Fury staple together what's left of SHIELD. Where is my support? Oh, wait, I'm the untouchable billionaire who has no needs or wants." He offered a deprecating smile. "I'm the man who would never lie down on the wire, right?"

Steve very obviously couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Bucky swore and started for the door.

Steve grabbed him by his belt, and dragged him back. 

"Let. Me. Go," Bucky growled, the dangerous tone of his voice sending a shiver down Tony's spine. "If I'm in the same room as you for another minute, I might do something we both regret."

Steve let go like he'd been burned. "Buck!"

"In fact," Bucky turned back to face him and Tony flinched back at the expression in his eyes, "Tony, grab that plate and come with me."

There was no mistaking that for anything other than a command intended to be obeyed. Tony swallowed. "What for?"

"You're gonna explain this complicated tech in your Tower to me, and Steve is gonna go deal with this clusterfuck. If I see him again before he's got it straightened out, I might punch him. Probably more than once."

This ... was not what Tony had expected to happen when he'd set foot on the common floor. None of it. He had no idea what to think about it, either. He was caught between the betrayal and anger he'd felt thinking about the team, the lingering pain and fear of the memories Peggy had just recently made him dredge up, and the weird mix of interest and intimidation that Bucky was inspiring in him.

Peggy snorted at them. "That sounds like a decent plan to me. Steve, get your arse in gear. You've got your marching orders. And Barnes, if you're planning a lesson on technology, I have to demand that you let me join in."

Sweeping out of the kitchen and into the media room, she settled on one of the comfortable chairs and waited, watching them expectantly. Bucky nodded. "Right. Come on, Tony."

Beyond trying to predict what would happen, and just trying to keep up with the way Bucky and Peggy had turned his world upside down in the span of about an hour, Tony gave in. He picked up his half-forgotten coffee, the plate and silverware and settled himself opposite Peggy. Bucky followed him into the room.

Steve watched them for a few seconds, then took a breath, squared his shoulders, and left.

"FRIDAY," Tony asked, knowing he was reeling and not truly focused on much of anything, "do me a favor and summarise the major milestones in tech development since the second world war for Bucky and Peggy while I eat."

It took a few short seconds for a chart to pop up on the projector overhead, beamed onto the large screen on the far wall of the room, and his AI began narrating it, going in five year increments, paying particular attention to anything Stark Industries had been involved in thanks to Tony's innovative approach to running the company. Tony listened with half an ear. He took over once she was done, answering questions rather than continuing the briefing.

They passed several more hours that way, until FRIDAY interrupted them. "Boss, you've got a call from Ms. Potts."

This was not a good day to ask him to deal with another crisis. He was just done, and he knew it. But he couldn't refuse the call. He stood with a sigh, and excused himself, pulling his phone out of his pocket and walking out into the common room kitchen. "I'll be back in a few, FRI put her through on my cell."

"Tony," Pepper opened, the moment the call went through, "why did I just get a call from Captain Rogers asking that you get a few interns to help you out?"

Tony stopped in his tracks. "What?"

"You weren't expecting him to do that were you." Pepper sounded like she was pinching the bridge of her nose. "Listen Tony, do me a favor and don't pull me into whatever petty squabble you two are having this time, okay? I've got to deal with quarterly reports and a major Board of Directors meeting next week. And that reminds me, did you have a chance to look over the funding proposals the Department Heads submitted for next year?"

Wanting to shake his head in amazement, Tony just stood there and let the knowledge that Steve had just jumped the fuck in at the deep end as usual wash over him for a second. "No, I wasn't expecting him to do that. And I don't want any interns. Leave them where they are. That's what the bots are for. Anyone else would either slow me down more or present a security risk. The proposals are all unimaginative," he'd had FRIDAY read him the highlights of each one, "but they're all more or less in line with our initiative to branch out into green energy. I'm prioritising the energy storage ideas. Pick whatever you like best from the others."

"Thanks, Tony." He could hear the smile in her voice, then felt it fall and shatter as she sighed. "Sometimes I miss the days when all we did was worry about the next weapons contract. Things were so much simpler."

Sometimes he did, too. "I know. But this is better," he replied quietly.

"I miss you," she told him. "A lot more than I ever dreamed I would. Be careful out there."


	4. Chapter 4

Tony stood in the common floor kitchen and stared down at his phone until Bucky cleared his throat from the media room doorway. "Everything alright, Tony?"

"Huh?" He shoved the phone back in his pocket. "Yeah, for once it is. No immediate fires to put out."

"Good. Come sit back down, then." Bucky told him. "Agent Carter was asking some questions about what to do next that I can't answer."

Behind him, Peggy laughed. "Is that what I was doing, Barnes?"

"Well," Bucky smiled back, "you got Steve straightened out right quick. I figure you'll have us apartments and jobs in under ten minutes, if you decide you want to."

"Do you want to, Sergeant?" Peggy inquired with a deceptively mild tone to her voice.

"Well, so far, I can't say as I really mind the idea of staying here. It's different, but I've got Steve. That's what matters." Bucky declared. "Even if he is currently being a dumbass."

"Apartments are a non-issue, Bucky," Tony said, stepping up to him, then past him through the media room door. And if he let his hand brush against the side of Bucky's leg he wasn't going to call attention to it. "There are suites available here, rent free, if you want them."

"Thought those were meant for your team," Bucky shot back.

"The team that doesn't want me?" Tony scoffed. "The suites might have might have been for them, originally, yeah, but I like you better."

Peggy shook her head. "That will only cause trouble later."

"Well, there's an open space in my suites," Tony joked, "but I doubt either of you would want to go for that. There are several executive suites that we keep for visitors SI foots the bill for."

"That won't be necessary either, I think," Peggy told him, and Tony thought he could see the plan forming in her eyes. "Barnes, are you going to take him up on that offer?"

Bucky stared at her, looking like a deer caught in headlights. "What?" he choked out.

"Tony's offered one of us the chance to bunk with him. Seeing as I'm planning to steal your usual bunk with Steve, I suggest you take him up on it."

"Uh," Bucky went pink, but looked at Tony with what looked suspiciously like stifled hope and interest in his eyes. "I doubt he'd be interested in that, Carter."

And wasn't _that_ an interesting turn of phrase. "But you would be," Tony said, his inflection making it more a statement than a question.

Bucky went redder. "Well, I--"

"Barnes," Peggy said on an exasperated sigh, "the way you two have been making eyes at one another for the last few hours has been exhausting to watch, and I don't see why you should deny yourself this. Judging by Tony's reaction, it's not a big deal here and now. So either make a move or don't, but don't torture all of us with this nonsense."

What the hell was his life even?

Tony shook his head. "No way this is happening."

"Oh, it's happening alright," Bucky grumbled. "But that's moving a bit too fast for me. Dinner and a show first?"

Tony spent a dizzying moment wondering what Steve would have to say about this when he found out, then decided not to give a flying fuck. "That can be arranged. FRIDAY set you up with something to wear that isn't Army issue?"

"I offered, Boss, but Sergeant Barnes turned me down," his AI put in.

"Well, I'm countermanding that," Tony decided. He needed to get Bucky in a proper suit. That was sure to be a devastating sight. Those broad shoulders and tapered hips? Mmm. "Nothing too fancy to start out with."

"Right away, Boss."

Tony turned to Bucky and let himself imagine, knowing whatever he could come up with would likely fall far short of the real thing. "We'll paint the town red," he told Bucky, watching the man's eyes light up. "And if you're so inclined, I might peel that suit back off you later."

"Ain't that moving a bit fast?" Bucky asked him, smirking.

"One thing you'll learn about me if you stick around, Barnes, is that I'm always moving forward at Mach three." Tony shot back.

"Oh, get out of here," Peggy rolled her eyes at them, but she was smiling, so Tony counted it as a win. "Before I change my mind about this being a good idea."

"It's the best idea," Bucky disagreed, and boldly inserted himself into Tony's personal space to take him by the elbow. "Come on, sugar," he purred, his voice going dark and tempting, "let's find a spot to... talk a bit."

"You are the _least_ subtle person, Barnes," Peggy called after them.

"Can't say I mind, though," Tony added.

His life might be ridiculous, dangerous, and sometimes downright insane, but at least it was fun, most of the time.


End file.
